06/29/2010

Summer is picking up, bikes and boats are flying out the door. I came into the shop this morning with the lovely surprise of a giant freight delivery truck packed with new kayaks. I was not only excited for the prospect of a day of lugging boats up four flights of stairs, but we now have a tremendous selection of the Berkshire favorite Pungo 100's and and 120's. In case you haven't heard yet we also have another series of boats from a company called Elie. They are pretty similar to the Pungos but at a little bit of a lower price. We are now stocked to the gills, open, and ready to supply boating equipment to Western Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut. As you might imagine, I approached this sight with trepidation.

Here are the Elies. Don't they look sexy in their packaging.

And here are the Pungos.

So now that you know kayaks are here, come and get them. Also wish me luck that I don't break my back today.

06/25/2010

The World Cup has been amazing so far.... check out this vid recording the world's reaction to Donovan's goal.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPmR9w Make sure to watch it to the end... the last few shots are hilarious!!!

Kayak Demo Day!

Saturday June 26th, 2010

The lakes are open and the weather is warmer! If you haven't bought that new kayak yet, then you don't want to miss out on this. We will have reps and boats at the Stockbridge Bowl Boat Launch from Hobie, Perception, Wilderness Systems, Elie, and more. Hope to see you there! (Starts at 10:00 am)

06/24/2010

The Arcadian Shop has, for a short time, organized a Pussy Extraction Team which we refer to by the acronym of P.E.T.

The P.E.T. is composed of a wide variety of individuals that possess unique talents and organizational skills. Membership in the team is by invitation only and the training is typically a combination of skill acquisition and explosive strength training. The training is key because, as we all know, it can get heavy out there.

Yesterday, at exactly 3:00 pm, the P.E.T. received a message requesting their services. A team consisting of Cliff, Jeff and Chris responded directly after work.

Their objective?

You can barely see her up there in the hemlock tree. But that little pussy cat had been in the tree for almost two days in driving rain. She was refusing the old "put food at the bottom of the tree" trick.

She was stuck.

Cliff and Chris planned an aerial attack on the objective and arranged a ladder while Jeff donned the safety equipment. Please note the highly aggressive tactical footwear....

Jeff performed a bit of tree pruning as he ascended....

Jeff spoke nicely to puss for a while in order to but the nervous animal at ease..... one his unique skills...

He then went for the "grab and bag." Unfortunately, Jeff's skills were not quite up to the task. The "grab" went well but Jeff has always had trouble getting anything into a bag except for himself... and even then he's only half in the bag.. Today was no exception...

The cat dug into Jeff's deltoid and hoisted herself onto his back. The bag was discarded and Jeff began a rapid descent while the claws dug in deeper and deeper. Chris and Cliff removed the fearful feline from his skin and our C.I.A. Agent (Cat Intelligence Agency) Ruth helped the kitty into a cage...

Objective achieved!

Ruth, CIA, got busy applying hydrogen peroxide to Jeff's back and Cliff went to the 'fridge to find and offer a celebratory beer. But this was not any just any beer.

Folks, that is a 1990 Thomas Hardy Ale!!! Twenty years of aging!!!

The bouquet emanating from this fine elixir was heavenly and was surpassed only by its silky texture and sweet smoothness.......

06/23/2010

You'll get a credit towards the purchase of new pedals when you bring your old, beat up crank pushers to The Arc Shop.

The pedals must be one of the listed brands below.

The pedals to choose from are in the chart below....

Here's the scoop!

From

June 15th through August 31st, 2010, you can bring your clip-less pedals to us and receive a discount towards a new pair of LOOK pedals. Now is the chance to trade up to the winningest pedal in professional cycling.

Trade in is available on the following LOOK Pedals.

Pedal MSRP Promotional Retail

Kéo 2 Max Carbon $249.99 $189.99

Kéo 2 Max $179.99 $134.99

Quartz Carbon $199.99 $159.99

Quartz $99.99 $84.99

The pedals that are valid for trade in are the following brands: Older LOOK, Speedplay, Shimano, Time, Crank Bros, Mavic, Ritchey, Campagnolo, and BeBop. Pedals must be in working condition.

06/22/2010

The world has been captivated by the beautiful game for the last two weeks. I have written before about how this tournament unifies the world. Even the most isolated country in the world, North Korea has a participating team. Clearly this is a country that marches to the beat of their own drummer due to their isolationist political policies. As I have been watching the tournament I am fascinated to see how the North Korean team conducts itself. At first I was a little puzzled by the reports that the team is communicating with their home country with an invisible cell phone. http://abcnews.go.com/International/world-cup-2010-north-korean-coach-talks-kim/story?id=10931655

Ok I have to admit, that's a little strange. Then I saw this video.

That peaked my interest a little bit. Then I watched this episode of National Geographic Explorer. It's forty five minutes, but very interesting and worth the time.

The point of these links is to show that North Korea is country that is completely different than anywhere else in the world. Despite all of these differences, North Korea share the common love of soccer and completion as the rest of the world. In fact, their last game was broad casted live, something unheard of in their Marxist political system. I present this as undeniable proof of the unifying power of this tournament and the beautiful game.

06/19/2010

It has been said that years ago, when the great mansions dotted The Kennedy Park landscape, a witch-hermit took up residence near what is now the town reservoir. She was a revered healer of broken bones and practiced the art of divination through the use of birds and meditative techniques.

The legend holds that she was a hermit by choice and not because of physical defect. In fact, she is rumored to have possessed an exotic beauty. Many well heeled gentleman who resided in the local summer cottages were seen passing in and out of her hovel door.

Then the change occurred.

It seems that one of the gentleman tried to spirit her away.

She resisted.

He came back with friends and somehow a fire sparked in the witch's cottage.

The witch, the gentleman and two of his friends perished. The third friend was burned badly but survived, scarred for life.

The spirit of the Ditch Witch now roams the far end of the park. She reaches out and grabs ankles as they run past, causing them to trip and fall. She also afflicts inattentive mountain bikers by pushing their front wheels into badly balanced positions. Horses just get spooked.....

She nailed me again this morning on a trail run. (She seems to like me...)

There wasn't a single object to trip over anywhere on the trail. I wasn't running fast. (Of course, I never run fast... I wouldn't even call it running.... more like waddling...) I wasn't tired.

But I WAS flat on face with a bruised shoulder and a knee gash that would make Hannibal proud.

Ahhhh, peace returns... check out this place we found in Leverett. We went for a hike and found this.... the video really doesn't do it justice... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM-9orc7fr0 The whole community that resides there is dedicated to removing the threat of nuclear war... very cool...